YMMV / Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade

• Fridge Logic: Marianne's backstory potentially helps to explain why she's seemingly not especially bothered by Elsie stealing her lunch money; after everything she's been through in the not-too-distant past, the inconvenience of having to eat a peanut butter sandwich instead of a regular lunch would probably seem like an extremely minor thing by comparison.
• Fridge Horror: When Jenny's younger brother's pet rat begins to have babies, the infants keep mysteriously disappearing. It's only at the end of the book that we learn Jenny's mom's been getting rid of them by putting them in the freezer to die. This is treated like a punchline.
• Values Dissonance:
  • The ongoing dispute between Jenny's parents about whether or not her mother should have a job can seem like a very weird argument to modern readers, who more than likely come from a household with two parents working outside the home. At the time Fifth Grade was first published, though (1981), this was a big deal.
  • The occasional references to corporal punishment, in particular the incident where Elsie's mother smacks her with a broom (which goes beyond the boundaries of "discipline" no matter your opinion of corporal punishment), have not aged well. Some readers might even be surprised when Helen mentions that the principal of the school is allowed to paddle students, something that was not only legal but fairly common when the book was written.
• The Woobie:
  • Elsie is the Woobie of Nothing's Fair and only becomes more so as we learn more about her terrible homelife.
  • Marianne also qualifies in The Fourth Grade Wizards as she tries to come to terms with her personal tragedy.

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